Wanted man who applied to be a cop has the credentials to excel in old-school business and politics

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A police spokesman says as Montillano was being taken into custody, he asked aloud if he’d still be allowed to take the exam.

Updated at 3:18 PM EDT on Monday, Mar 2, 2009

Romeo Montillano appears to be an individual of perplexing intellect and moxie. The San Diego County man was wanted as a suspect in a December robbery of a Chula Vista Kmart. He allegedly stole some electronics, and then got in a fight in the store parking lot with an employee before fleeing.

Montillano spent last weekend in jail. But he wasn’t there because of a manhunt, or the work of a CSI team. Seems he’d applied for the Police Department entrance exam. The cops noticed his name. On the day of the test, Montillano signed in, and was promptly arrested.

A police spokesman says as Montillano was being taken into custody, he asked aloud if he’d still be allowed to take the exam. Well, no -- and when he asked if he could come back later, it was apparent this was a man of “Forrest Gumpian” proportion: challenged, yet undaunted.

Clearly, this is a man we should keep an eye on, once he makes his $110,000 bail, that is. Not since the CEOs of the auto industry traveled to Capitol Hill in private charter planes to plead for handouts have we seen such bravado.

Montillano is clearly cut from the same cloth as Senate leaders. He calls to mind the majority party that loads a stimulus package with pork, and the minority who claim the same policies that emptied our national coffers will somehow now right the ship.

Wherefore art thou, Romeo? Illinois just lost a governor who’s the king of men in denial about their transgressions. If Rod Blagojevich jacked a Walmart, then tussled with security in the parking lot, you can bet his next move would be an application into law enforcement.